You.Capture

I had 10 pictures that I wanted to share with you from the last half marathon Greg ran a few weeks ago, but somehow in the process of me thinking I know how to use lightroom, I lost them. I have no idea where they were exported to. So I have to solve that problem before I share any with you. This instead is a post of pictures for the You Capture theme of Spring. Plus I'm really excited for the warmer weather we are about to get.

...thinking spring...

A Little Big Lesson on Life

In the summer of 2004, my hubs spent the summer with Campus Crusade for Christ in Wildwood NJ. As you may know, there are a ton of stores on boardwalks and Wildwood was no different. All the people he was with on "project" (as they called it) found a store that would stamp/burn a piece of leather with just about anything you want...as long as it fits. I can't remember what his says. wait! no never mind, definitely have no idea. Anyway, when he came home at the end of the summer, he gave me this.

He told me what the verse said and I loved it. For those of you who may not know, it says this: "Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Really? Seriously? That's awesome. Delighting in the Lord gets me the desires of my heart. Note: I was a veerrrryy young..baby Christian if you will. How silly of me!

Fast forward to this week. I was introduced to an app called Grace to You a couple months back and it provides you with TONS of sermons and scripture readings to listen to. I found myself not able to focus on any other tasks on my to do list, and so God gave me the inspiration to break open this app. A series called "A Course for Life" caught my eye so I went for it. The first sermon is called "Knowing God's will". And that really caught my eye since I'm trying to figure out what God's will for me is at the moment. I started listening.

Now I'm not going to spoil the whole sermon...I'd rather you listen to it yourself. :D  But what I'm getting at in this probably unnecessary long post is this. While Psalm 37:4 says that if you delight in the Lord, He will give you the desires in the heart--it's not exactly true as it may sound at first reading. The truth is that if you are truly and fully delighting yourself in the Lord, your heart will desire exactly what HE wants for YOU--and therefore you will receive the desires of your heart.

See how that works? It's not that if I give God my prayers and my praise and live accordingly for Him, I will suddenly get A, B, C (job, house, kids, etc) whatever it may be. No, God requires everything..and then through that process your heart's desire is no longer fixed on worldly things that are so easy to focus on, but your heart will now want what God wants.

At first I thought--DUH! of course. And then reality sank in. umm, wait a minute. I guess that means that I could possibly never have A, B, or C. But that doesn't matter, because when I'm fully delighting in my Lord and my Savior and my God, I will have things that are so.much.better than A, B, and C. I can't tell you what they are at the moment, because in all honesty I'm not sure I'm there at the moment. I'd love to be. But just not yet. It's something I need to work on...but thankfully I will never be alone in my course of life.

Oh.my.

Power went out at work today...3 times. It's not to easy when your trying to run a business and sell frozen, blended items. All is well now. No melted ice or custard.

I've fallen behind in my reading. surprise surprise. not. But I'm working on catching up.

I downloaded the demo of Adobe Lightroom 3 and I fell.in.love. enough said.

I have a desire again to be crafty. If only I had the time. Here's what I've found thus far that I would L.O.V.E. to make.

what girl wouldn't like this playhouse...made of felt!

you would of course need some felt food in a felt playhouse...duh!

and these led me to so so so many projects. wonder if I can convince myself to actually start some kind of project...hmmm

Love It-Hate It

In the year before we got married, Greg started trying to teach me how to golf. Trying being the important word here. For Christmas that year, my parents bought me my first set of golf clubs and a bag--they were pink. Honestly, a little too girly for me now that I think about it, but I just thought it was cool that they were colored. period. Little did I know then that almost ALL golf clubs are colored. HA!

Throughout the last 3.5 years, I've learned that I have a love-hate relationship with golf. 

I like the challenge, but I hate that I'm seriously inconsistent.

I love that it's one of Greg's hobbies, that I can partake it. But I hate that I'm not strong enough to really hit the ball all that far. I like that I've since gotten newer, better clubs...that aren't pink.

Today we went to the driving range with my brother in law Ben. The 3 of us frequently make a golfing trio. We'll be a quad once Ben gets married in July. But that's a different story. Anyway, we each got a large bucket of balls. And I did FANTASTIC! My shots were in the air (which is semi-unusual. they normally fly across the ground), they were straight, and they were decently far. Now granted there isn't much difference in distance between myy driver and any other club in my bag (other than the wedges & putter of course!).

The guys discussing technique.

I was doing so well however that I flew through my basket of golf balls. My basket was empty before either of them got half-way done. OOps! Oh well. I would rather that than to be terrible for an entire outing. [notice the golf balls on the grass that are really close...those are from the crazy teenagers above us who kept sending bouncing balls right in front of us. One even bounced right next to me! It sure raised my self esteem]

I'm not going to go into details right now about my reading--except that it's Day 3 and I did it! Genesis 28-40 :D

Give it up already

So I mentioned a few days back that I was in a funk. Really just totally disheartened by this stalemate of a situation we are in at the moment. I truly have to admit that this week I've been frustrated and upset about this situation. I am rarely able to remember that this is God's plan in my frustration. I'm mad because it shouldn't be like this [in my mind of course]. I'm frustrated because it should be easier. On the women's retreat, the very first night we talked about laying it all on the cross. Now this concept encompasses a lot..mainly about what should be changed about yourself to be more like Him. In my quiet time that weekend, I found myself curled up around my bible praying and pouring.out.my.heart with tears streaming down my face. Something I should be doing daily, but part of me (a BIG part of me) doesn't want to admit my complete frustration because I know I should be thankful for all the things I have. As if that's easy or something. I'll admit I was slightly off topic for my quiet time at that point...BUT I had to get through that to move on. It was the wall between me and God at that point in time that had to be knocked down with a wrecking ball.

Anyway, today my Bible reading schedule included Genesis 17-28. 

There is so much that will be happening in each section that I read, that I could write and write and write. I will have to limit myself so that you don't get too bored of me. :) 

Anyway, one part that stuck out to me and my funk is when God comes to visit Abraham and Sarah. He tells Abraham that despite their age, Sarah will bear a child for Abraham. Sarah laughs at this from inside the tent because of her disbelief that after all these years, she will be granted a child when she is old. God hears her laugh and asks why she laughed and asks her "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" [Genesis 18:14]

There are 2 things that were running through my mind at this point:

1) God hears  & knows EVERYTHING. DUH! But that doesn't mean he doesn't want to hear me tell him directly. He is waiting for me to come before Him with every ounce of sadness, every tear, and every praise. He is waiting for me to give.it.ALL to Him. He is waiting for me to give it up, to let go, to draw near to Him.

2) There is N.O.T.H.I.N.G that is too hard for God. NOTHING. It doesn't matter what it is. He can do it. The difference is, will He. He knows what's best for us and when it should happen (or not happen) and no matter what He has deemed right and perfect for us we still need to remember #1.

Now my last thought is nothing I came up with. I actually just read it on another blog right before I decided to post. It's talking about remembering and focusing on God's purpose in our lives instead of what we might think our purpose should be. 

"It's so easy isn't it? Just to want our lives to be happy and free from difficult circumstances altogether? But you know what? If our lives were that easy, I'd dare say that we'd not stop very often to really have a relationship with God. As sinful people, when things are going 'good' for us, we tend to forget all about God don't we?

But see. God isn't looking for our lives to be 'good' -- HE is looking for us to grow and become Holy like Jesus! HE is looking for us to long for HIM and have a real and intimate relationship with HIM. And that takes work! It takes us being willing to work through the difficulties in our lives and not just complain about them. He wants us to come to HIM and form a real relationship.

He also wants us to take the things we learn from HIM and apply it to our lives. In doing so, we become more like Jesus. More HOLY.

See, God isn't looking to make us happy. HE is looking to make us HOLY. More like HIM - more like HIS son. That is His purpose for our lives - holiness! Happiness is a wonderful thing but it depends on what is HAPPENING in our lives at the moment. It is hard to be happy when we are asking our "why" questions, isn't it?

But take heart! Because by spending the time with God that He deserves, by growing closer to HIM, by becoming more Holy - I think that we will have joy because the fruits of the Spirit working within us will show in our lives! And happiness, while different than joy, is a gift from the Lord - so be thankful for your happiness when you have it!

Being happy should never be our goal in life......being HOLY.....being more like our creator -- that should be our goal."

Thursday Letters & Day 1

Dear Misto Lady,

I know you really like your mistos on random days after you eat your lunch, but for one you could be a little friendlier and two I know it's you leaving your straw trash 2 feet from the trash can on our counter and on the ground today. Could you please consider picking up after yourself. After all you are a grown up and even though it's my job to keep the place clean...it doesn't necessarily mean you should litter.

Sincerely,

Irritated Ritas Manager

Dear Mystery Shopper,

First of all I want to say thank you for giving me my complete 100%. I've truly been worried about you. Asking myself all sorts of questions. What if you don't let me offer a sample? What if I can't easily offer you any add-ons? However, I do want to say that I know I usually look younger than I am...but 17?? Hmm. I'm sure I'll appreciate looking younger someday, but for now I would have preferred the early 20s at least.

Sincerely,

A slightly happier Rita's manager

Dear Jetta,

You really are a great little car. Even if sometimes I say things that sounds mean when all your little lights blink at me and beep at me. Deep down inside I really do love you. (Although sometimes I do wish you were taller. You know to make up for my lack of height). I'm glad your feeling better and that you didn't cost us the remainder of our income for the next few months.

Hugs & Kisses,

Your Driver

Dear Extended Warranty,

First I would like to apologize. Really I am sorry I was so frustrated with you for the past 2 years. But can you blame me? We paid a lot for you considering our current position and you never covered anything. I suppose you knew all along you would come in handy. Today you showed your true worth. You showed that catalytic converter and it's labor who is boss. I even did a little dance leaving the shop because of you--who does that?!?

Love,

A Very Pleased and Apologetic Wife (and her hubby)

Dear School Districts,

We are awaiting your call. Seriously. Any day now. I know it may seem early to you, but you know "The early bird gets the worm". {We are the worms, you're the bird...better eat us up before some other bird gets to us}

From,

2 Teachers slightly tired of living in the Unknown

Now onto my 90 Day Bible. Today was seriously a crazy day. My car went in to get inspected so I had to be driven to work and get picked up by my hubby. So that extended the day. We were supposed to go to small group but didn't make it because we had to pick up my car and we got stuck in construction traffic. When we finally got home I realized that I had yet to read my Bible for Day 1. 

Seriously? I can't fail yet. I haven't even started. I even began to justify myself that I've read Genesis plenty of times. But even I know that's a terrible excuse. So while the boys were watching a mish-mash of Phillies, Flyers, and the NFL Draft, I pulled out my Bible and dug in. 16 chapters later, I'm glad I did it. Creation, Adam & Eve, The Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah & The Flood, The Sons of Noah, Tower of Babel, Abram, Lot, and finally Hagar and Ishmael. I thought about reading more tonight, but I want to make sure I HAVE to read tomorrow. I told Greg about my "plan". His response wasn't quite what I had thought. I thought maybe he'd join in. Not.so.much. His comment..."Isn't that just reading, for reading's sake?" Ohhh well. I'm going on my own. Maybe he'll join me sooner or later. (even if it does take me longer than 90 days)

Regret & Non-Wordless Wednesday

Days ago...okay weeks ago. A month is probably more accurate, I was literally at 90 posts and I was so excited to simply meet 100 posts. Here I am. Writing post 99. Very upset with myself that I was literally unable to continue for the past month. Sooo hopefully I shall do better in the next week and months to come. Today was a VERRY slow day at Ritas. With the temps in the low 60s here, with practically complete cloud cover and rain, I had 4 customers--so I had lots of time to think.

In past years, I've tried to read the Bible in a year. Seems like it's something I could do, but within the first few months I fell behind. Normally one would just try to catch up, but I didn't. So I don't remember if it happened yesterday or today, but I thought I would try it to read the Bible from cover to cover, beginning to end, in 90 days. I know, I know I could be crazy. But hear me out. It's a shorter goal. More reading to do at a time, BUT less time to fall off schedule. Plus it gives you 2 days of non-reading. I was happy to find a schedule online for FREE so I don't actually have to buy the book. I could have made up my own schedule, but I like when it's someone else's list to follow. It seems more--important.

I hope to post a little bit each day on my thoughts on what I've read. If your up for joining me I'd love the extra support and company. :D  And of course I'll throw in some other stuff along the way. **In the back of my head I'm thinking of my next sewing project to embark on--I'm thinking something for my nieces.

Here's a little picture from the race this past weekend. I loved the contrast and the fact that the building was super weathered from being on the New Jersey oceanfront for 70-80 years.

I.O.U.

I owe you a post. It feels like it's been forever. I actually wrote a couple other posts but opted not to post them simply because they were written by a girl in a HUGE life funk. So while I'm trying to get past it here are some pictures to catch you up on the past week.

A Saturday walk @ the women's retreat during my photography lesson.

My view Mondays-Fridays

My "fr-enemy". The custard machine and I have a
love-hate relationship. It's learning that I'm in charge.

Saturday we left @ 4am to drive to New Jersey for
a half marathon. [more on this to come]

Me and niece #2
**dreaming & wandering when God will grant me
one of these**

The beginning of my Prayer Journal

Women's Retreat Weekend

This weekend was awesome. I mean what could really be wrong with 30-40 women praising and learning about their Lord and Savior all while enjoying the time together. I came home from Rita's on Friday afternoon and I had to pack, make sure I got a laptop, projector, and my presentation onto a jump drive. All went reasonably well. Granted I was a little rushed and ended up packing 7 different shirts for 3 days. But at least I was prepared. I was so ready to have nothing to do with Rita's or children's ministry for 2 days. Sometimes you just need a mental break and soul/faith rejuvenation. We were on the road by our goal of 5:30, picked up dinner to go, and arrived at the retreat center by 6:30 [I think].

Friday night we had our first talk session and then stayed up really late talking and laughing and it was fabulous. Saturday we got breakfast cooked for us by a crazy-talented man, had a double talk session, lunch, and then had free time/workshop time. That's where I came into play. I had my photography lesson at 4pm.

I think I should back up a bit first. Immediately after lunch, 12:30ish, I decided to boot up my old*er* laptop and start up my powerpoint to make sure it was ready to go. So thankful that I did this because I realized that even though I checked the powerpoint presentation on my the hubby's computer, MY laptop didn't have a new enough version of powerpoint, therefore it would not open! I could feel the tears beginning to form. Not because I couldn't do my presentation then, but simply because I had put so much time and effort into it and I knew it would be a benefit for all the women to SEE what I was talking about. Not just hear it. So time to troubleshoot. Nothing that I could do on my laptop would fix the situation. Called the hubby to see if he could help (turns out he was still at a track meet)...means no help there. There was only one other person to call. My brother-in-law. He had to turn on my home computer, find my file, open it up, re-save it, and THEN get into my e-mail so he could send it to me.  While waiting patiently, I prayed that it would work because of how badly I wanted to show everyone, but I eventually found myself praying that whatever happens, that I will be okay giving my presentation regardless. Praise God, about 15-20 minutes later, I had an e-mail waiting for me. Since it was opened on a computer with different fonts, I had some editing to do, but it was there.

Our 1:00 session was all about making a prayer journal, and it is seriously an awesome idea. I have mine barely started, but as I finish some more, I will definitely post pictures so that you can see what it is and maybe you'll make one for yourself. I was thankful that I had attended this session to keep my mind off of the nerves that were beginning to form. If I had just had free time, I probably would have been a complete mess!

4:00pm came quickly or so it seemed. Probably because I wasn't feeling particularly creative due to being pre-occupied. I hooked up my computer, turned on the projector and off I went. The lesson went perfectly. When I was writing the lesson, I was so worried about what to say and that I would forget. So I typed up notes, printed them out....and looked at them twice (only because I felt like I should). I handed out my brochures at the beginning so the women could take notes on them or simply keep for future reference. We had a little Q&A, helped find things on cameras, and then took a short little walk to try to put it into practice. While I was talking it was so so ssooo cool to see all the women break out their cameras and look for the exact thing that I was talking about. My ultimate goal was to empower and encourage the women to explore their camera. They can't hurt it...and even if they think they did, it can be reset. 

Saturday night was another talk and a real life application testimony by a lady. Both of which I missed because of a complete mis-communication and explosion of the mis-communication between the hubs and I. Basically, I had to get the projector back to him so that it could be used in the children's ministry Sunday morning. We both drove to a Wa-Wa to meet...however they were different ones. Frustration and emotions exploded and I ended up having to come all the way home to drop it off. Then in tears and angry I drove back to the retreat center. A trip that was supposed to last maybe 45 minutes took basically 2.5 hours. But then I got to stay up late again and be relieved of my emotional roller-coaster by lots of women who love me and care for me.

Sunday morning--I was exhausted. You know the kind of exhaustion that overwhelms your entire body because of how emotionally drained you were at some point on the previous day. Yeppers. That was me. We sang, we worshiped, we prayed, we learned one more time (5 talks) in all and finished up the weekend with lunch and fellowship. I came home not planning on napping, but I could.not.help.myself. I slept for 2 hours and still have a headache. This thing between us has not yet been settled, but that's how things go here. We'll see what happens. For now I have a headache and need to unpack my 3 bags...yes, 3 bags for 2 days. Maybe tomorrow I'll share more about the talks with you and more about my photography lesson! Sadly I have zero pictures from this weekend.again.just like last year. oh well!

Blog Party 2010

I was so excited when I found out about a Blog Party. It seems like it's just what the doctor ordered to give me a break from my normal craziness of life right now. So here is my Blog Party Post!

My name is Katy. I'm a lover of all things colorful, pretty, tasty, crafty, and fun. I love spending time with my family and friends (even though they all live at least an hour away). I am first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ and in January of 2003 I dedicated my life to my Lord and Savior.

 I started a blog after I lost my job. It seemed like a great way to fill time. It started as a way to just express myself through a different outlet. I mean really..how much does a husband want to hear about his wife's quite boring day...right? So then I met other bloggy friends who have introduced me to sewing and increased my love for baking and I'm so excited about it.

More about me you say?

I'm 24 and you can usually find me with my camera

wife to my high school sweetheart. Married for 2 years & 11 months, together for 8 years.

puppy-momma to 2 furry labradoodles

Yasha (4 years old)

and Nittany (1 1/2 years)

Our life was turned upside in the past year. I lost my job, my husband found out he will probably lose his job in June so we moved into the 2-room attic of my in-laws house.

My blog follows my adventures as we try to fill in the missing puzzle pieces. We hope to someday very soon have a house of our own and a family (we thought we would already be doing all of this by now...but God had different plans for us). So that's enough about me. If you are visiting, I would love for you to leave me a comment or become a follower so that I can come visit you! For my current bloggy friends, you should give the Blog Party 2010 a little check out and join the fun! I mean really...who would turn down more chances to win something for free!?!? You might, but definitely not this girl. There are TONS of prizes. It was hard to pick just a top 3 but here goes:

1. a 3 day 2 night stay from Holiday Inn Main Gate East in Kissimmee, FL (less than 2 miles from Disney World) a value of $250.
   Provided by: Holiday Inn Main Gate
2. Be My Guest certificate ($250 value) for one lucky winner, (2 night stay for a family of four) at any Hilton Garden Inn.
   Provided by: Hilton Garden Inn
3. Tupperware Prize Pack – the winner will receive a box filled with fun Tupperware goodies.
   Provided by: Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads

I'd really love one of those top 3 (a trip would be AWESOME!), but if I can't have those, I'll take any of the following :)

[continental] 40, 39, 7, 48, 11, 20, 31, 32, 36, 38, 52, 55, 73, 75, 87, 88, 91, 95

[us and canada] 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 25, 27, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 44

Seriously..click below and join in!

Today I need to...

• pick up projector & screen
• copy kid pages for Sunday
• head to work
• count drawers
• change signs
• pump bucket and bucket and buckets of ice every 30 minutes
• not make a mess of the place like I did yesterday while serving customers
• make the next 2 or 3 weeks of a schedule only to have the girls all switch their days around making my job semi-pointless
• finish writing lessons for Sunday
• finish my photography presentation for the Women's Retreat
• Make sure I know what I'm saying on Saturday
• Pack for the weekend

all so that on Friday I can

• head to work
• count drawers
• change signs
• pump bucket and bucket and buckets of ice every 30 minutes
• not make a mess of the place like I seem to do when I'm busy
• Leave my hubby for the weekend :( for the women's retreat :)
• Hopefully successful give a presentation on photography. (praying I won't be nervous-I'm sensing nerves starting already...yikes)

Weekend Update...it's kinda long & picture heavy

This was one jam packed weekend. It feels so long, probably because mentally it started on Thursday. Thursday morning, Greg had to make ice for Rita's and I had to close the registers from Wednesday & prep for a really busy Thursday. Then we had a meeting with one of the owners about how things were going. So far it seems as though we are doing a good job. phew! We worked basically up until 4:00pm between the meeting and lots of customers. Then we came home and 15 minutes after arriving home, we got a phone call from the girls who were working saying that they were running out of ice. Sssssooo back down to Rita's we went. It's about a 20 minute drive for us, so it's not really that long but when you are on a time crunch and are driving back and forth multiple times it gets to be a little much. Finally by 6:15 we were leaving Rita's stocked full of ice for a busy night. We had to buy dog food and pack for New York. Thankfully we were not called again to make anymore ice for that day. 

Friday morning, we had to close the registers and make LOTS of ice for another beautiful Spring, hopefully busy Rita's day. We made close to 13 buckets/flavors of ice!! But by 12:30 we were off to New York. I was ecstatic...seriously excited to go to New York. We really thought that we would be able to see some things in New York. But sadly we didn't. We were too cheap to pay $21.00 to park our car for a few hours. Plus the whole point of being in Manhattan in the first place was to pick up the race packet--not sightseeing. Maybe another time..like when we hit the lottery, or have jobs. So these are the only pictures I was able to snap on the way & in the city.

I snapped this picture in the car. Greg told me not to take a picture of the projects...
I didn't notice until just now that the Empire State Building is right in the middle of the picture. I thought
I was just taking a picture of a skyline. HA!

As we realized we were driving through Queens towards the hotel, we realized traffic wasn't really moving much at all. Obviously we hit traffic, but this was different traffic. After half an hour to go a mile or something like that, we realized that a block party had broken out in the middle of the street we wanted to go down. So we said hello to a detour that turned out to be soo much faster! Praise the Lord. I will admit it seemed weird to be staying in a neighborhood where I couldn't read or pronounce most of the signs and stores I was seeing. But the hotel was fabulous--nothing special, but so much nicer than I expected. We stayed at a Holiday Inn. First of all--hello KING bed with luxurious sheets. It even had a restaurant downstairs so we ordered take out after a walk in Flushing Meadows park. Here's a picture of the room. Sadly we were only on the 2nd floor so there was no view other than the air conditioning unit and such, but it was dark most of the time we were there anyway.

We had to check out before the race, but they were kind enough to let us keep our car in the parking lot for a few extra hours--which was super helpful. The race didn't start until 9:15 which was late compared to the races in Philly that were starting at 7ish. We walked the 3/4 mile to the race and it was a beautiful day! Here are some pictures of Flushing Meadows & my hubby running :)

Flushing Meadows Park

Flushing Meadows Park

Flushing Meadows Park

Mile 2

Mile 4

Mile 5.5

Tickets @ Arthur Ashe Stadium

Mile 10.5

Finisher Medal

Finisher w/ Arthur Ashe Stadium

Finisher w/ CitiField

Flushing Meadows Park

Overall, he finished at 1:32:12, which is a great time! 41st finisher overall, 39th male, 9th in age group. Such a proud wife am I.

ohh..and Happy Easter of course. I will leave you with just this song that is in my head.

"There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious Day up from the grave He rose again! And as He stands in victory sin’s curse has lost its grip on me. For I am His and He is mine; Bought with the precious blood of Christ."

So thankful to know that I have been saved by grace and that Jesus Christ died for ME and for YOU.